Sunday, March 29, 2009

Keep lamenting. Keep grumbling. Keep complaining. Keep bitching. It is good you do all that. And then, come the next general election, go vote for Barisan Nasional, the only party that can look after Indian interests and guarantee Indian rights.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Now that you have finished with Bodoh Cina, Bodoh India and Bodoh Melayu, I think it is time we finish it off with a Bodoh RPK! What say you?

You must be smoking pot or drinking something way out to talk about Bangsa Malaysia as if it is here and now. This is absolutely what we must all strive to achieve, but are we anywhere near that at all?

Just because you and the rest of your family are half this and half that, that does not make for Bangsa Malaysia today for everyone. Every bloody corner we turn we are reminded that we are Indians, Chinese, non-Malays, non-Muslims, Malays, Muslims.

Whenever I help one of our discarded citizens (who, for your information, also happens to be Indian…...or is it that I am making it out to be Indian this and Indian that) to fill in a form for this or that to prove their existence so they can claim their rights guaranteed in the constitution, every form asks… Bangsa? Agama? Every bloody form, RPK, every bloody form! Now are you telling me that tomorrow if the opposition takes over that is going to away? Tomorrow?

This branding by race is something that’s been going forever, started by the colonialist who raped the country raw and left us where we are today. The way we identify ourselves has to do with this history of gross conditioning which suited the bloody colonialists and afterwards the Malaysian ruling groups. So, if you want to cure a problem, don’t hit at the symptoms, hit at the root cause – problem solving 101 bodoh RPK. Start at the cause of it all, the racist system.

You want to apply for a job – Bangsa? You want to start a business – Bangsa? You want to get a licence – Bangsa? You want to enroll your kids in school – Bangsa? You want to take a loan – Bangsa? You want to sell a house – Bangsa? You want to die – Agama? You want to claim your rights as a citizen in this country – Bangsa? Agama?

Except for the businesses that are owned by foreigners, look at the mix of races in the Malaysian companies. Look at Petronas. Look at Public Bank. You must be blind, not colour-blind, if you cannot see what is around, 360 degrees, 24 hours, in Malaysia. That is all not because I think I am Indian or because I say Indian this or Indian that.

Naragan N sent me the e-mail above and requested that I publish it, so I will. As I have always said, I invite criticism and I don’t expect everyone to agree with my views. However, I also reserve the right to reply, which I will now do.

Naragan has rightly pointed out what ails this country. And, as he said, we have to attack the cause of the disease, not the symptoms. I have repeatedly said the same thing myself in many of my articles. Whenever readers comment, lamenting about this and that, I have always reminded them that it is no use arguing about the symptoms of the problem. We should instead focus on the cause of the problem. In that sense Naragan took the words right out of my mouth.

In a way, Naragan is saying what I have been saying all this while. Why he even bothered to write this e-mail just to repeat my points is beyond me. It would have been more productive if he had argued some fresh points rather than argue my same points. Is Naragan trying to convert the already converted?

Naragan says he is an Indian. And he laments about the plight of the Indians since way before Merdeka. I can understand that because the Indians first came to this country around 1850 until the British Colonial government stopped bringing the Indians into Malaya around 1920.

The history of the Indian migration into Malaya is actually not that well known to most Malaysians. Before 1850, the British set up tea and coffee plantations in India, in particular in Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka. These plantations were one day hit with a disease that killed everything and at the same time contaminated the land. So the land could no longer be used to plant tea or coffee.

Malaya, which had the same conditions as Ceylon, was a suitable alternative for these plantations. So the British planters relocated to Malaya. But the Malays would not work these plantations so the British had to bring in the workers from Ceylon and Southern India, who already had the experience anyway, as labourers for these plantations.

And that was how the Indians came to Malaya. Of course, there are others who came not as labourers in plantations. These were the traders and Chetiahs who were in the money-lending business. Basically, the Chetiahs served as bankers to the small man who could never qualify for bank loans. Some also came as clerks and teachers to serve the British Colonial Government who needed English-speaking Asians and the Malays at that time were not yet schooled in English, at least not until the early 1900s.

So the early Indians were mostly servants of the British, one way or another. When Malaya gained independence from Britain, some Indians went home but many chose to remain in this country and thereafter obtained Malayan citizenship.

The first election, the Municipal election, was held in 1955, two years before Merdeka. The Alliance Party won 51 out of 52 seats it contested. The second election, which was the first Parliamentary election, was held in 1959, two years after Merdeka. In that election, the Alliance Party won 74 out of the 104 seats up for grabs. PAS won 13, the Labour Party 6, Parti Rakyat 2, PPP 4, Parti Negara 1, Parti Malaya 1, and independent candidates 3.

Basically, the opposition depended on Malay and Chinese votes. And that is why the Islamic party, which had a Malay base, and what was perceived as ‘Communist’ parties, which had a Chinese base, grabbed 30 out of 104 seats. The Indians, since before Merdeka in the 1955 Municipal election, then two years after Merdeka in the first Parliamentary election, voted government. And the Indians continued voting government for another 50 years, whereby 90% of the Indian votes went to the Alliance Party and, later, to Barisan Nasional, right until they woke up in November 2007.

Yes, Naragan talks about the cause of the disease. We should attack the cause rather than the symptoms of the disease, argues Naragan. I agree. And the cause of the disease is that the Indians were solidly behind the ruling party in spite of all the problems the Indians (and Chinese as well, of course) had been facing since long before Merdeka.

Naragan laments about this and that. I am happy he is lamenting. Okay, maybe the Indians have just started lamenting since the last 18 months from November 2007. But I have been lamenting about all this, the same thing that Naragan is lamenting about, for more than 380 months since 1977. Naragan, 18 months, and me, 380 months. And Naragan’s 18 months of lamenting makes him more of an expert on Indian problems compared to me who has been harping on the same thing for 380 months.

I suppose, as they say, better late than never. Welcome to reality-land, Naragan. I am glad you finally woke up, although it took you 50 years to finally wake up. Keep lamenting. Keep grumbling. Keep complaining. Keep bitching. It is good you do all that. And then, come the next general election, go vote for Barisan Nasional, the only party that can look after Indian interests and guarantee Indian rights. Maybe we can start with Bukit Selambau where there is currently a by-election being held. Maybe the Indians can help swing a victory for Barisan Nasional so that the Indians can have a better future after getting a raw deal since 1850.